If a need can be fabricated, then a new market can most certainly be formed. The idea behind the hybrid drive is actually not a new one. Getting the public to adopt it on the other hand; well, that is a little more involved I would imagine.

For the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference this May, Microsoft and Samsung Semiconductor are preparing the first demonstration of a self-contained, production-ready prototype for Samsung’s hybrid hard drives, models of which will go into production before the end of the year, a Samsung official told TG Daily. These hybrid hard drives will represent the next stage of Samsung’s ongoing project with Microsoft to expedite I/O throughput time by leveraging large OneNAND Flash memory caches to radically improve application performance, as well as reduce system power-up and power-down times to under one second.

To help catalyze rapid adoption of hybrid HDD technology by OEMs, TG Daily has learned, Microsoft explored as early as November 2005 the possibility of making hybrid HDD inclusion a requirement for builders of desktop and mobile systems for both consumer and business customers to qualify for the company’s Premium logo for Windows Vista compliance, as soon as the second quarter of 2007. The Premium logo is granted by Microsoft to builders who have assured the company that they are providing users with, according to Microsoft, the “richest” computing experience currently available. Source: TG Daily

[tags]windows vista,oem,hybrid hard drives,onenand flash memory,hdd technology[/tags]